By Andrew Catania

This is part two of my series on Black Label Society’s Dario Lorina.  We discuss what made him pick up the guitar and how he met Jani Lane from Warrant.

What made you decide to pick up the guitar?

DL:  I had a musical family growing up, and one year for Christmas I received a guitar.  I just never put it down.

Did anyone influence you? Schooled or self-taught?

DL:  Well my family had a huge influence on me as far as inspiration goes, though as a beginning guitar player I was influenced heavily by Van Halen.  When I first heard VH as a kid, I thought to myself “I want to play guitar, and I want it to sound like that.”  I started with lessons pretty early on and continued them for many years.

How did you get involved with Jani Lane?

DL:  I was a junior in high school (11th grade), and the guitar dominated me every moment.  I knew that playing music was what I wanted to do with my life and I was looking for any opportunity to make that happen.  I saw an ad on MySpace that Jani was looking for a guitar player, so I sent an email and got a response from his management, we started communicating back and forth as I was learning/recording Warrant songs and sending them over.  They had me come out to LA and jam with Jani in a rehearsal room in Hollywood, where Jani played drums, and we played some Warrant tunes and some of his Back Down to One solo album.  We started touring a couple of months after that and did so for the two following years.

How have you evolved as a guitarist?

DL:  As with anything, the more time you put in, the more you learn, and the more you grow.  I’m always learning and evolving as a player, though still keeping my core stylistic traits.

Give us a rundown on how you recorded Death Grip Tribulations.

DL:  I spent a few days in LA with Fred Archambault in his Studio 5A recording drums and rhythm guitars, laying the foundation for each song.  From there we sent the tracks to JD where he recorded bass from his Catacombs Studio in New Jersey.  I then took the tracks home with me where I sat for a couple of weeks and wrote and recorded the melodies and solos for each song.

What musicians played on this record?

DL:  On drums, I had my good friend Dan DC Conway who also played on my first solo album.  My Black Label brothers Jeff Fabb (Drums) and John JD DeServio (Bass) joined me on the album as well.  Jeff played on one song, Waves of Nostalgia, and JD played bass on the majority of the album.  My former Lizzy Borden band mate Marten Andersson also played bass on a couple of songs (Guardian, Distant Shores).  On the song Two Fifty, I had my long time friend Phil Campbell (Motorhead, Phil Campbell, and The Bastard Sons) join me in dueling guitar solos.

How did you get involved with BLS?

DL:  I’ve known Blasko for several years who manages Black Label Society and when the opportunity came up, I sent over some videos playing some BLS songs and singing/playing acoustic on one of Zakk’s Book of Shadows songs.  I then went out to the Black Vatican to meet with Zakk, and that was that.

How did you start the songwriting process for Death Grip Tribulations?

DL:  I began writing for it late 2015 / early 2016 in between Black Label tours.  I demo each of the songs out except for the solos, which on an instrumental album are like the vocals/lyrics, and once we record the foundations of all the songs, I then go back and begin that writing process and lay them down immediately as they’re written.

What does your current rig consist of?

DL:  With BLS I’m playing out of two JCM800’s in stereo, putting one wah, rotovibe, overdrive and chorus in front of the amps.  For my solo shows I’m basically running the same set up though right now RIG A is a JCM800 with a Crybaby, Seymour Duncan 805 Overdrive and Vapor Trail Delay going into the amp, and RIG B is the new Seymour Duncan PowerStage 700 with a Seymour Duncan Palladium Gain Stage and Andromeda Dynamic Delay going into it.  I run these two rigs together, always on, not switching between the two.

What are the differences between working with Lizzy Borden, Jani, and Zakk?

DL:  They are all rock guitar oriented bands so not much difference there.  The only main difference between the three I would say is that Lizzy Borden’s show had a theatrical vibe to it, but working with each band has been an amazing experience.

How does it feel to have immense respect for your playing in the guitar playing community?

DL:  It’s very humbling, and I’m just happy to be playing guitar and creating music.

What are your plans for the rest of 2017?

DL:  I just finished up doing some shows playing music from both of my Shrapnel Records solo albums.  I plan to write and record my next solo album within this year and possibly play more solo shows.  BLS will be back out on the road early 2018.

Check out Dario at dariolorina.com